This is what DNA looks like on colorful paper

Scientists from The Field Museum are cataloguing sequences of DNA to determine how different species of fish are related–a family tree of fish (called phylogenetics). Each row of letters represents a sequence of DNA from different fish, all caught in Indonesia. Now, are you ready to be a scientist? Compare letters in each row, which fish is different, 1, 2, or 3?

Here is one of the difficulties of science: there are 66 letters in this sequence of DNA, the human body has 2.85 Billion letters of DNA. 2,850,000,000!! That’s a lot of letters to compare.

Thank you to marine biologist Dr. Josh Drew (@labroides) for his work studying coral reef environments, who was part of the group that made this graphic possible. You can see the entire image and compare more fish DNA by visiting The Field Museum’s newest exhibit, The Abbott Hall of Conservation Restoring Earth. Or read about my 24-hour adventure in the exhibit: Occupy The Field Museum.

Thank you for reading. Don’t be afraid of who u are. letUbeU!

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Do what you love, what your DNA was designed to do. Read The Holstee Manifesto Poster.